PORTLAND (WGME) — More than 500 volunteers from UNE’s two campuses helped families facing food insecurity Wednesday.
It was the largest single-day effort yet for UNE’s “Meals for Maine” initiative.
UNE volunteers are partnering with the Maine Masonic Charitable Foundation to put together 200,000 meals as part of 9/11 service events taking place across the country.
As a result, meals will be distributed to families in every county in Maine.
Organizers say the need is big and getting bigger and that, once again, Mainers are showing they’re ready to help other Mainers.
“In Maine, food insecurity is a huge issue, and so we argued that we really needed to get a team effort and a collective together to address it,” Westbrook College of Health Professions Director of Service Learning Trisha Mason said. “It’s a huge team effort. We also have community members, we have families, we have faculty and staff that come out to support the event, I bring my kids, it’s a really multi-generational, positive opportunity to show Mainers having an impact on our local communities.”
This is the fourth year of the event, bringing the total impact to more than 550,000 meals delivered across the state.